Commonly, cotton harvesting machines can unload harvested cotton into a container such as a trailer known as a boll buggy in the field, while remaining in the rows for harvesting the cotton plants. Essentially, a boll buggy is a container open on the top that is pulled by a tractor or other vehicle up to the cotton harvesting machine while in the field. The harvesting machine can be stopped and the boll buggy pulled alongside the cotton receiver, and the cotton in the receiver unloaded into the boll buggy. The cotton harvesting machine can then resume harvesting and the boll buggy is typically transported to a standard module builder located in an accessible location such as the end of the rows, and unloaded. As a result, the harvesting machine does not have to come out of the rows to unload when full. Newer cotton harvesting machines which compact and form or package the cotton into a unitary body or module as the cotton is conveyed into a cotton receiver on the machine, are typically required to unload the cotton module or compacted body of cotton at the end of the rows, or a location where the module or compacted body of cotton can be picked up by a module truck or the like for transport to the gin for processing. The end of the rows provides a suitable location, as the terrain is typically relatively level. It is undesirable to unload a module or compacted body of cotton in the field, as the field contains stalks and the ground is uneven as a result of being formed into raised beds for the plants.
A typical modern cotton harvesting machine with an on-board module building and/or packaging capability can produce a compacted module or body of cotton that can weigh between about 8,000 and about 11,000 pounds, depending upon crop conditions. Conventional cotton harvesting machines typically can hold a maximum of about 10,500 pounds. This large capacity allows both machines to make one or more passes in the field depending on row length and yield (pounds of cotton per acre). Conventional cotton harvesting machines can unload at any time, either in the field into a boll buggy, or at the end of the rows by driving up to a module maker and unloading the cotton into it. In contrast, for maximum efficiency, a cotton harvesting machine which can package or compact cotton into a unitary module or body, is desirably unloaded when the module or body is completely formed. Partial modules or bodies should only be unloaded when finishing up a field, and these should still be unloaded at the end of the rows in what is known as the turn row where the cotton harvesting machine turns around to enter new rows for harvesting the cotton therefrom. Therefore, because of widely varying row lengths and yield conditions, there is a need for cotton harvesting machines to have the capability to hold cotton above the compactor apparatus to allow the operator to continue to harvest cotton until the end of a swath of rows or other suitable location for unloading, is reached.
Therefore, what is sought is apparatus and a method which overcomes the problems and provides the capability set forth above.